


The Light that Guides

by Yacoba



Series: WING-0 [2]
Category: Gundam Wing
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-02
Updated: 2021-03-02
Packaged: 2021-03-15 06:35:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,071
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29804397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yacoba/pseuds/Yacoba
Summary: A Collection of short stories for LoveReflection’s March Madness challenge (2021)Prompt # 23 Fireflies
Relationships: Relena Peacecraft/Heero Yuy
Series: WING-0 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2189370
Comments: 14
Kudos: 14
Collections: Love Reflection March Madness (2021)





	1. Chapter 1

_“...ero...”_

He blinked, glancing about himself, only to realize he was both adrift and standing at the same moment. Lost, and in a recognized place. Though how he knew for certain he’d been here before, he wasn’t sure. These could have been any woods, broad gnarled oaks, rising up around him their branches twisting together to block out the sky above.

_“Pl...ease...”_

And yet, he thought he could see the stars, brief flashes of lights among the branches. It took a moment to realize, it was the lights that were drifting, not the leaves, and he knew what it was he was seeing.

_“Heero....”_

He glanced up, the muffled words finally making sense to his ears, though he couldn’t place from which direction they’d come. A light winked out before him, before pulsing back to life.

_“Heero...”_

The tiny light pulsed all the brighter than the others, and he knew it was her, calling to him. But from where? He couldn’t place the direction, it seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once.

_“Don’t....do this...”_

He could hear pain in the words that made it through, and that tiny light before him continued to pulse. It drifted, swaying one way then another, with each burst of light as though trying to convince him to follow.

_“...Come back...”_

He reached for the tiny creature, with a hand that both was, and wasn’t. He could recognize that this wasn’t real, and yet was the only reality he knew. That there was something beyond it, the source of that voice, pulled him along after the shining beacon.

_“Why...do you...have to be...so brave...”_

The tiny light grew brighter, as he followed. The pulses of guidance coming swifter and more determined, almost seeming to strobe with its intensity. And then there was pain, a searing fire in his side, and a throbbing ache in his head. He lost sight of his guide in the staggering moments of agony.

_“Heero!”_

Was that relief he heard? Certainly he recognized the sound of tears in her voice, and he never wanted to see her cry. Who had upset her? he wondered angrily, glancing about himself to find the culprit. But there was still only the woods, the dark, and his tiny blinking guide.

_“Open your eyes.”_

There was a demand in those words, and he looked at his pulsing guide. He wondered how he could be seeing without opened eyes. He shifted, but didn’t move, blinked and saw nothing but blackness. His side felt slick with sticky wetness, and he reached out to touch it. A groan escaping dry lips.

“Heero,” Relena’s voice gasped.

He opened eyes that fought to remain closed, shifting in a body that felt weighted by lead. Heero groaned, when watery light filtered into his eyes and he saw the blurry world around him. Then he saw her, a faint glow surrounding her head as she stared down at him, tears trailing down her face.

Heero managed to raise a bloodied hand towards her, and she caught it with one of her own. “Wha...” he tried to ask, but the word was hardly recognizable.

“Just relax,” she half sobbed, gently holding his hand, while her other reached out for his face. “Help is on the way,” she assured, her eyes darting from his face to somewhere behind him before they immediately snapped back.

“I thought I’d lost you,” she whispered fiercely.

Heero tried to shake his head, but it sent the world tumbling about him, and he shut his eyes tight against the sensation. Opening one cautious eye, to see if the world had stabilized, Heero looked up into Relena’s distraught face. “You...found me...” he managed to say.

Relena sobbed a slight laugh, her eyes darting away from his face again for only an instant. “Over here!” she called sharply, the worry in her voice was palpable.

There was a crush of noise and activity, as people flooded to his side, pushing Relena aside. Heero’s heart surged to keep her in sight, and he fought weakly to look past these intruders. His attempts were stopped at each turn, and he thought he heard Relena’s voice over the pounding of his heart. Was she asking him to relax? How could he relax when she was in danger?

Blinding light swept across his vision, as he head was held still with a disgusting amount of ease. “Sir,” a voice said, the one holding the offending light, “can you tell me what happened?”

Heero wanted to shake his head, but remembered vaguely what happened the last time he’d done that. His eyes continued to dart away from the men leaning over him, searching for sight of Relena.

“Sir, I need you to try and relax,” another voice said.

A hand came to rest on Heero’s right ankle. The warmth of delicate fingers closed around his leg, and he knew it was her. She was there, she was safe, and he could breathe.


	2. The Answer

Relena kept her hand firmly on Heero’s ankle, anchoring both herself and him in this place, this moment. The medics were focused on their patient, who was far more cooperative with just the simple touch of her hand. Moving aside to let them near Heero had been the hardest things she’d had to do. So afraid that she’d lost him, in the aftermath of the explosion.

She could hear the steady beating of Heero’s heart through the equipment, and she knew despite her presence it was pounding much too quickly. Relena wanted to push aside the medics with their useless clinical tones, and speak to Heero herself. She slipped her hand beneath his torn and dusty pant leg, pressing the skin of her palm to his, making the connection to him more pronounced and sure.

“Just breathe,” the first medic encouraged, as he pried open Heero’s eyes again to cast his pen light across them.

Relena could hear the groan Heero fought to keep within, deep in his throat and she winced for the pain she knew he was in. She wanted to demand answers of these men, working over him, but forced herself to remain still. Instead she stroked her thumb against his leg, making sure he knew she was still there.

As Heero’s breathing slowly evened out, the medics began asking him questions while they worked. The first securing a neck brace around Heero’s throat, while the second attempted to stem the flow of blood from Heero’s side. “Can you tell me your name?” asked the first.

“Heero...” he answered with a hiss.

“Do you know where you are?” was the next logical question Relena supposed.

She watched Heero’s eyes roll as he tried to see around himself, clearly unsure the answer to that question. Relena glanced herself around the room, or what was left of it, and supposed it shouldn’t surprise anyone that he wouldn’t recognize it now. “It’s okay,” the second attempted to soothe as Heero’s heartbeat ticked up a notch again.

“Most likely a concussion,” the first said to the second, and together they moved to secure Heero to a backboard.

“How long was he unconscious?” Relena blinked in surprise, having not realized they’d turned to address her.

Fresh tears sprung to Relena’s eyes, at the memory of finding Heero among the rubble, prone and bleeding. She’d begged him, pleaded with him, and when neither had worked she’d simply ordered him to return to her. “I...uh....” she stuttered looking to Heero’s face and seeing his cobalt eyes locked onto her. “15-20 minutes...” she trailed off, completely unsure. The last thing she’d been thinking about was timing her nightmare.

“Alright, let’s move him,” the first medic said briskly, “on three.”

Together they lifted Heero from the rubble and blood strewn floor and shifted him to a gurney left out of the debris field. Relena refused to let go of Heero’s leg, shifting as best she could to be out of the way. Finally one of the men stopped her, “It’s alright,” he said, and she stared at him for a moment not comprehending. “Go ahead and take his hand,” the man said, prying her fingers from Heero’s leg.

With a rush of sound it all made sense and Relena took the hand of the man she loved. The man who had risked his life to save innocent bystanders. The man who had bargained with his own life, offering himself up as hostage. She needed to know why. Why he’d willingly take that risk. She’d had no time to plead with him, as he offered himself up.

There had only been a moment for a look, a brief meeting of their eyes. Where Relena had been left with the distinct impression Heero had been trying to say ‘Trust me.’ Had this been his intended goal? she couldn’t imagine that. As she gripped his bloodied hand tightly in her own, Relena stumbled alongside the gurney towards the waiting ambulance.

* * *

Heero woke, to a massive headache, and a sick feeling clinging to his body. He heard the telltale sounds of a heart monitor off to his left, and immediately wanted to tear the leads from his chest. He tossed the blanket back off his right hand to do just that, when he felt something take hold of him.

“Shh...” Relena soothed, “just relax.” her hand brought his back to rest on the hospital bed.

Turning his head towards the sound of her voice, Heero forced open tired eyes. For a moment he just took in her face, seeing the dark circles under her eyes and knowing she’d been extremely worried about him. He never intended to cause her worry, but if he thought about it for any length of time, that seemed to be what he did best.

“How long?” he asked through a dry voice.

Relena produced a cup and straw, allowing him to drink. Which he tried to do greedily, until she pulled aside the cup. “About twelve hours,” she told him softly.

Heero took a moment to reorient himself to that news, and tried to shift on the mattress. He wanted to get a better look at himself, see the damages. But Relena stopped him, as she took hold of his right hand and smoothed the blankets covering him, before sitting down near his hip. Heero tried to shift his left hand beneath the blankets but for the moment he felt effectively trapped.

Relena stared down at his face, her expression unreadable, even as her hands gently held his, her fingers lightly stroking his wrist. “Heero,” she said his name, and the tone with which she said it, caught Heero’s immediate attention. “Can you tell me why?” her voice made that question an important one.

Heero swallowed for a moment, “Why what?” he asked back cautiously.

She looked down at her hands caressing his. “Why you tried to trade your life?” she asked softly, worriedly.

Flashes struck Heero, and he winced at the pain it sent jetting through his skull. ‘Bloody concussions...’ he thought darkly, always made a mess of memories. But he caught enough of those fleeting images to remember what Relena was referring to.

“It’s not a death wish,” he said with a pained huff of breath.

“Then what was that look?” she pressed, “Before you sent me from the building...”

Again the memories darted through his head, in twelve different directions, but he managed to grasp hold. “That...” he breathed, “the bomber did a terrible job at construction...”

Relena jerked up straight where she sat, “Seemed pretty good to me,” she countered gesturing to him in the bed as if that proved it.

Heero was surprised when a dry pained chuckle escaped him. “If he’d done it right, there should have been nothing left.”

“So you took a chance?!” Relena asked incredulously, her voice raising with her alarm.

Wincing Heero, tried to shake his head, and regretted the motion immediately when his stomach threatened to rebel. Breathing deeply through his nose, Heero waiting for the nausea to pass before answer. “No chance...” he managed at last, “I could tell the bomb was flawed.”

Relena stared at him for several long minutes, “So that look...” she began after a moment, “was, ‘Don’t worry? The bomb will still blow, but not as big as it should be?’” she asked helplessly.

Heero kept his head very still as he looked up at her, “Basically?”


End file.
